Abstract
A simple, long life, rapid response and sensitive barium(II)–PVC membrane sensor that typically follows Nernstian behavior has been developed for the assay of barium(II) ions. The developed sensor has been made by incorporating the complex ion associate of barium(II)–Rose Bengal (Ba–RB) as an ionophore into a plasticized PVC matrix. The sensor is stable and exhibited fast potential response of 20
s and gave a good linear response with a Nernstian slope of 28.5
±
0.4
mV/decade of activity within the concentration range 5
×
10
−5 to 10
−1
M over a wide range of pH 4.5–10.0 for barium(II) ions. The developed sensor showed comparatively good selectivity for barium(II) ions with respect to other alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions. The plasticizer
o-nitrophenyloctyl ether controlled significantly the calibration slope and the lifetime of the fabricated sensor. The proposed sensor was used successfully for the analysis of barium(II) ions in wastewater samples and in lithophone pigment with excellent recovery percentages in the range 98.9–99.8
±
1.6%. The determination of sulphate in fresh and potable water samples with the developed sensor has been also achieved successfully. The described sensor provides a reliable means with good correlation with the data obtained by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and other spectrophotometric methods for the analysis of trace amounts of barium(II) and/or sulphate ions in different matrices.